Property Tax

What data and information are needed to fill out the declaration?
district.
Parcel number.
parcel area.
Land register sheet number.
share belonging to the economic unit (property).
Living and usable areas of the buildings.

First, tax offices could set a new deadline for submission with a reminder letter, but this is not mandatory. Then there was a risk of fines and late payment penalties. The amount of both amounts is regulated by law, but the tax offices have discretion when it comes to penalty payments.

As with the annual income tax return, this is generally possible. However, you will need your own ELSTER access to do this, as the property tax return must be submitted digitally.

First, log in to the site. You don't need ELSTER access for this. Instead, you register with your email address and your tax ID and verify yourself using a code that your tax office will send you by post within one to two weeks.

You should therefore avoid these four mistakes when filing your property tax return:
Error: Disregard the deadline of January 1, 2022 for your information.
Error: Providing outdated information about the land value.
Mistake: Missing the deadline.
Error: incorrectly calculate living and usable areas.

Examples of usable space include sales rooms, workshops and offices. However, the home office, which is counted as living space, is not usable space for property tax purposes.

What happens if the property tax return is not submitted on time? After receiving the reminder from the tax office, you should comply with the request immediately, otherwise a late payment penalty of around 25 euros, or in the worst case even a penalty of up to 25,000 euros, can be imposed.

Living space plays an important role in property tax. In the federal model and in almost all state models, it is included in the calculation of the property tax value - only in Baden-Württemberg is it not taken into account, as the development is not important here.

It is expected that there will be less property tax for land and real estate in rural areas or in structurally weak areas. On the other hand, it can be more expensive for city dwellers, owners of undeveloped land and owners of single-family homes.

Which documents indicate the year of manufacture? When it comes to property tax, the year of construction is the year in which the property was ready for occupancy. This information is often found in the construction documents or in the purchase contract. Otherwise, the municipal building authority may be able to provide information.

A share must be entered in two places in the declaration. The first share (line 11) describes how much of the parcel belongs to the property. For a single-family home this is usually 1/1.

The number is in the land register extract and can also be accessed online. First the numerator is given (456) and then the denominator (2).

Where owners can find the data they need for property tax returns:
File number and/or tax number of the property. ...
Address of the property, name of the owner. ...
Field number, land register sheet, district. ...
Land area, living space, year of construction. ...
Land guideline value.

Only in very special exceptional cases can a declaration be made in paper form.

These are 0.04 euros per square meter for the property and 0.50 euros per square meter for buildings (living space).

Good news: Gardens that are located around a residential building do not count as agricultural or forestry areas. Regardless of their use, they are part of the property and are included in the calculation of the property tax base along with the respective area.

Does a garage affect property taxes?
Is the total area of ​​all garages e.g. For example, if it is only 25 m² in size, 0 m² must be entered in the property tax return. Outdoor parking spaces and carports generally do not need to be registered.

Calculating living space: What counts as living space? The living space in a house or apartment primarily includes the areas of the living room, bedroom and children's room. The kitchen, dining room, hallways and halls, bathrooms and toilets as well as storage and ancillary rooms must also be taken into account in the calculation.

Height of at least one meter and less than two meters up to half can be counted as living space. The entire stair area belongs to the circulation area. If the staircase is located in the living room, the floor area of the staircase is included in the usable area.

The stairwell is not officially part of the living space

While some basement rooms can be counted partly or entirely as living space depending on the structural situation, the stairwell is therefore not part of the living space according to either DIN 277 or the Living Space Ordinance of 2004.

Rooms and room parts with a clear height of at least two meters 100%
Rooms and room parts with a clear height of one meter and less than 2 meters 50%
Clearing parts of the room less than one meter

After submitting the property tax return, the tax office and the municipality take action. The tax office checks your information and calculates the new property tax value based on it.

If the height is between 1 and 2 meters, the area should be taken into account at 50 percent. If the height is more than 2 meters, it must be considered entirely as living space. Terraces, balconies, roof gardens and loggias are included with a quarter of the living space.

Field 51 is about the ownership share of your property. If you own the property alone, enter 1 in the numerator and 1 in the denominator. For example, if you share the property with a spouse, enter 1 as the numerator and 2 as the denominator for half the share.

Additional information about the name of the community must be entered in lines 33-40 only for communities of heirs, fractional communities and real estate communities without a common commercial name.

For non-residential properties to be valued using the tangible value method (e.g. commercial properties), the type of building, the year of construction and the gross floor area must be stated from line 20 onwards.